MRS. MARTIN ADOPTS BILLIE
“There was no need for me to watch that night. I knew that the kind
person in the brass bed would not let anything hurt me, but I never
had such troubled dreams in my life. I was running over vast dump
heaps, and everywhere I went a terrible monster pursued me, with two
enormous red eyes. I tried to hide in the ashes, and behind heaps of
tin cans, but it came round every corner and leaped over every
obstacle, and several times I had nightmare and cried out in my
anguish.
“Mrs. Martin spoke to me very quietly, and then I sank down on my bed
again. Not until I heard the rattle of milk cans as the dairyman came
up the back entrance to the hotel did I sink into a really refreshing
sleep.
“When I woke up it was high noon, and Mrs. Martin sat by a window
sewing. I was ashamed of myself, and lay trembling in every limb, for
I quite well remembered the nightmare.
“She threw down her work and looked at me. ‘Poor little creature, how
you must have been hunted! Come here and tell me your life history.’
“I shambled out of the closet, walking with my legs half doubled under
me, as if I were a very old dog.
“‘Stand up, Billy Sunday,’ she said. ‘I am not going to hurt you. Now
tell me, where did you come from?’
I stood up beside her, looking this way and that way, my ears laid
back. I fancy I appeared a perfect simpleton. Suddenly I caught sight
of another poor, dirty, whipped-looking cur across the room, and I
gave a frightened ‘Bow-wow,’ and ran back to my closet.
“She was laughing heartily. ‘Poor doggie, did you never see a cheval
glass before? Come here and look at yourself.’
“With every hair bristling, I walked stiff-legged out of the closet,
all ready to snarl at my rival. I went close up to the glass, touched
it with my muzzle, then I looked behind it. Where was the dog?
“‘Goosie,’ said Mrs. Martin, ‘it’s yourself! Evidently they had no
mirrors where you came from. Listen to this,’ and she set something
going on a table in the corner of the room.
“It was a man, laughing hideously, I thought. He did not stop for
about five minutes. What kind of a lady was this that had things that
looked and sounded like human beings and animals, but were only pieces
of wood?
“‘Oh, how funny your face is, doggie,’ she said: ‘Now hear this,’ and
she went to the wall and took up a queer thing, like a horn.
“‘Do you wish some scraps for the dog?’
“I pricked up my ears. It was a faint and squeaky voice, but still
quite distinct. I was a very, very much astonished dog, and seeing it,
she put down this curious thing and said, ‘Dog, I think you have come
out of a poor family.’
“I said nothing. I still felt weak and bewildered, and she said, ‘Come
out to the fresh air,’ and, taking up a hat and coat, she went out of
the room and down the red staircase to the veranda.
“‘Stay here till I come back,’ she said, and I walked down to the lawn
and ate some of the freshest, nicest grass blades I had ever tasted.
“Presently she returned with my breakfast, and such a breakfast! Toast
crusts—nice buttered toast crusts, and little bits of bacon.
“‘Just scraps from plates,’ she said, as she put the dish down on the
lawn, ‘but very good.’
“I soon disposed of this breakfast. Then she went up to the birds’
bath on a stand and lifted down a nice, shallow green dish for me to
have a drink.
“‘And now,’ she said, when I stood gazing adoringly up at her and
wagging my tail gratefully, ‘hey ho! for the veterinary’s.’
“I did not know what she meant, but by this time I was ready to follow
her anywhere, and I trotted after her down to the sidewalk, where
stood one of the fast automobiles that we saw dashing by our cottage
in the Bronx, but that never stopped anywhere near us.
“‘Come in,’ she said, and held open the door.
“I was terrified and drew back. It was not so bad as a train, but I
just hated to go near it.
“‘Now, doggie,’ she said, ‘can’t you trust me?’
“I could not move, and she had to lift me up and put me on the seat.
Then she put her arm round me, and little by little I began to lose my
fright. How we hurried through the streets, but it was not nearly so
bad as the train, for here it was open and pleasant, and I could look
about me as we flew along.
“The thing we were in was called a taxi, and now I am not at all
afraid of one, and Mrs. Martin jokes me and says she has seen me on
the corner of the street waving my paw for the taxi men to stop and
take me in when I feel lazy.
“‘A dog in very humble circumstances,’ she said, ‘for even the poor
drive in automobiles now.’
“When we arrived at the veterinary’s I jumped out and followed her. I
was struck dumb with surprise. Mrs. Martin had explained to me that
the man who lived here earned his living by doctoring dogs and horses.
The house was a very fine one, much larger than the café, and it had a
lovely neat garden and not a trash can or ugly box in sight.
“We went past the house to a stable, and there we found a nice-looking
man, and a colored servant boy.
“‘Good morning, doctor,’ said Mrs. Martin. ‘I have brought you another
cur. Please tell me whether she is sound in wind and limb. Otherwise,
we will——’ She nodded her head toward a closet, and I trembled like
a leaf. I knew what she meant. If I were not a healthy dog they would
kill me.
“How would they do it? and I lay down on the floor and panted. I knew
death would mean an end of my troubles, but I had seen dogs killed,
and cats and chickens, and it was not till a long time after that I
found out that one can kill without torturing.
“The doctor poked my ribs, examined my teeth and rubbed back my hair.
Then he said, ‘A healthy dog, three-quarters smooth-haired
fox-terrier; age, about three years; a few fleas, coat harsh and
uncared for, skin not too dirty, has been washed recently—been struck
by motor car or railway train, judging by black plaster on rump.’
“‘Will you let your boy wash her again?’ asked Mrs. Martin.
“‘Certainly,’ said the doctor. ‘Jim, take the dog into the bathroom.’
“A bathroom for dogs! I nearly fainted as I thought of the pump the
Italians went to. But was this right for me to have a bathroom, and
the poor human beings to have none? My education, or lack of it, had
early taught me that a dog is much lower in the scale of beings than
men and women. In fact, we Bronx dogs were not taught to think half
enough of ourselves.
“For the second time in my life, and within one week, I,
three-year-old dog, was given a bath, and this time it was almost a
pleasure, for though the colored boy had great, heavy hands like
sledge hammers, he had been taught to use them carefully.
“While he was passing his soapy hands carefully over me, a number of
dogs in near-by stalls screamed and jumped and barked jealously.
“‘You boardah dogs hush up,’ he said, ‘or Jim will lick de stuffin’
outen you.’
“They yelled all the louder at this, and I saw he was very indulgent
with them.
“I was put in a hot box to dry, and then Mrs. Martin gave Jim a
quarter and the doctor fifty cents, and we sauntered out to the
street.
“Oh, how perfectly delicious the air felt on my clean skin! I tried to
gambol a little, but did not make much of a success of it, as I was
still stiff from my blow of yesterday from the car wheels.
“We went back to the hotel by way of the main street, and that day I
enjoyed looking at the people and into the shop windows. Dogs like a
gay, pretty little town, much better than a big city. When I went to
New York for a few days and had to wear a muzzle I thought I should
die, but that is another story.
“To my unutterable delight, Mrs. Martin went into a harness shop and
asked to look at collars.
“‘What color?’ asked the man.
“‘The Lord has made her yellow and white,’ said Mrs. Martin, ‘suffrage
colors. Give me a yellow and white one, please.’
“How often in the Bronx had I admired proud, rich dogs trotting by our
cottage with handsome collars on and things dangling from them! True,
mine was very uncomfortable, but what did that matter? I was ‘dressed
to kill,’ as Angelina used to say when her friends got new blue or
green dresses. Oh, if she and the children could only see me now!
“I held my head up, walked high and pricked my ears as we went down
the street, being often gratified by remarks from passing ladies and
children, ‘What a stylish dog! What a pretty creature! What a clean
little fox-terrier!’
“When we got back to the hotel the ladies sitting knitting on the
veranda called out, ‘Why, Mrs. Martin—where did you get that dog?’
“She smiled and told them about the night before, and one dear old
lady, when she finished said, ‘I believe my grandchildren would like
to have it.’
“My ears went down like a spaniel’s, and I pressed myself against Mrs.
Martin’s dress. I had suffered much from the hands of children that I
loved. How could I let myself be mauled by children that I did not
love?
“Mrs. Martin heard me moaning, and gave me a sympathetic look, but
said nothing.
“How I tried to please her the next few days! I ate nicely and not
greedily, and if she went out of the room I left my choicest big beef
bone to follow her. If we were out walking I kept closely at her heels
and did not speak to a single dog we met. If she put me in her room
and said she was going to see her sick sister, I wagged my tail and
tried to look cheerful.
“The day after she found me I had discovered that Mrs. Martin was far
away from her own home and she had come to New Rochelle to be with her
younger sister who lived there and had been quite ill.
“In my anxiety to please her I grew quite sad faced, as I saw in the
cheval glass. I wished her to be my new owner, for I had given up all
thought of returning the few miles to the Bronx, as I knew Antonio
would keep his word and shoot me.
“Mrs. Martin said nothing at first to reassure me, but sometimes she
took me on her lap and rocked me. That did not look like giving me
away, and one day I ventured to whimper and laid a paw on her arm.
“‘It’s all right, Billy,’ she said; ‘I understand. You are not to
leave me.’
“I jumped off her lap and ran round and round the room very soberly
and quietly, and trying to avoid the furniture, but still running.
“She laughed gaily, ‘And some people say that dogs don’t know what we
say to them. Now remember, Billy, you’re to be my own true dog, and
not run away nor do naughty things, and I’ll give you a home as long
as you live. Do you promise?’
“‘Oh, yes, yes, yes!’ I barked loudly and joyfully, raising myself
from the floor on my forelegs each time I opened my mouth.
“‘And bear in your dog mind,’ she said, ‘that I will talk to you a
good deal and I expect you to talk to me. If I do not understand your
language at first, you must be patient with me.’
“I went right down on the floor before her. I felt so humble. To think
of this big, stout, grand lady saying that she would try to understand
what a poor little cur dog was trying to tell her! I have never
forgotten that remark of my beloved new mistress, and I do wish there
were more people in the world who would try to understand dog
language.
“‘Now come for a walk,’ she said. ‘I must do something that will seal
this bargain, for the town authorities are very particular about dogs,
and I may have to stay a long time yet.’
“I just tore down the staircase and into the street. We went right to
the little red brick city hall and Mrs. Martin inquired for the
license room. She paid a man a dollar and got a little tag which she
fastened to my collar, and if you go to the New Rochelle town hall
to-day you will see in a big book, ‘Billy Sunday, fox-terrier, 1917,
N. R. D. T. L. 442.’
“My paws were just dancing when we came out, and when we got back to
the hotel and met the dear old lady who wished to get me for her
grandchildren I did the newest dog-trot all round her.
“‘The children are coming for that dog to-day,’ she said.
“‘The veterinary has a nice one for them,’ replied my new mistress. ‘I
am going to keep Billy.’
“The old lady looked astonished. ‘But she is such a trouble to you.’
“‘Oh, no,’ said Mrs. Martin cheerfully. ‘I have nothing to do here but
go to the hospital once a day to see my sister. It is good for me to
have a dog to exercise.’
“The old lady looked down at me and exclaimed, ‘I believe that
creature understands what you are saying.’
“‘Oh, Mrs. James,’ said my dear new mistress, ‘if you only knew! Dogs
and cats and birds and all animals have a language of their own. They
are crying out to us, begging us to listen to them, to sympathize, but
we are blind and deaf. We do not try to understand.’
“‘Well, there’s one thing I understand,’ said Mrs. James bluntly, ‘you
are calling that dog Billy Sunday when she ought to be Ma Sunday.’
“Mrs. Martin dearly loved a joke, and she burst out laughing. ‘I sent
word to the famous preacher that I had named a dog for him, and I
don’t think he approved, for I received no message, so I am going to
change her name to Billie Sundae.’
“‘Which will be much sweeter,’ said the old lady, ‘though I am not one
to run down a preacher. I suppose eventually you will take your sweet
dog to Canada, and make her sing _God Save the King_.’
“‘Not if she wishes to sing _The Star-Spangled Banner_,’ said
Mrs. Martin. ‘We Canadians have always been good friends with you
Americans, and since we have fought side by side for the freedom of
the world I feel as if we were brothers and sisters.’
“The old lady nodded her head a great many times and said, ‘Quite
right, quite right’—and now, you two birds, I am tired and want to go
to sleep,” and suddenly stopping her tale, Billie dropped down on the
hearth rug and put her nose on her paws.
“Won’t you tell us about the sudden death of Mrs. Martin’s sister and
your trip here with her and the two children, Sammy-Sam and Lucy-Loo?”
I asked.
“Some other day,” she said sleepily.
“I’d love Chummy to hear that, and also about Fort Slocum and the
lovely American soldier boys.”
She did not reply, and Chummy spoke up, “Thank you, Billie. I’ve
enjoyed hearing about your adventures. Lost dogs and lost birds have a
very sad time of it, and now I must be going. It will soon be dark.
Thank you for a pleasant time, Dicky-Dick,” and flying out the window,
he went to his hole in the wall.